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Five still in hospital after Temerson Square shooting

By Jason Morton, Brian Reynolds and Stephanie TaylorStaff Writers

Published: Tuesday, July 17, 2012 at 3:30 a.m.

Tuscaloosa News

Nathan Van Wilkins, 44, has been charged with one count of attempted murder and placed in the Tuscaloosa County Jail on $100,000 bail. Investigators are obtaining 16 more warrants for attempted murder and a warrant for shooting into an occupied building. Once the warrants are obtained, Wilkins will have a bail of $1,730,000.

5:12 p.m.: While police have not released the names of the victims of Tuesday's mass shooting, the University of Alabama confirmed that former Alabama defensive back and current member of the team's support staff Kelvin Sigler was treated for a bullet wound to the forearm and released from DCH Regional Medical Center.

Nancy Pierce, a supervisor in the communications office of Mobile County Public Schools, also confirmed Tuesday afternoon that another of the victims is a football coach at Vigor High School in the Mobile County School System. She would not release his name.

High school football coaches from all over the state are in Tuscaloosa this week for a football camp at the University of Alabama.

UA confirmed earlier that three of the wounded were UA students. Interim President Judy Bonner released a statement Tuesday morning saying that two students were treated and released from DCH, while the third is being held for observation.

Sigler joined the Crimson Tide's support staff in March. He came to UA after serving as head football coach at Blount High School in Mobile. Sigler was a three-year starting safety at Alabama from 1996-98, amassing 179 career tackles, including a team-high 86 as a junior in 1997. He intercepted six passes in his collegiate career. He had a brief career in the NFL, playing for the Miami Dolphins in 1999.

Five of the 17 victims shot at Temerson Square remain at DCH Regional Medical Center.

Three were in fair condition Tuesday afternoon, one was in serious condition and another was in critical condition, according to DCH spokesman Brad Fisher.

Another victim, a 30-year-old man shot at a home in the Indian Lake subdivision about an hour before the Temerson Square shootings, remains in serious condition at DCH.

Police are not releasing the names of the Temerson Square shooting victims, but those concerned about loved ones are asked to call 205-349-2121.

5: p.m.: Nathan Van Wilkins has been charged with 18 counts of attempted murder, one county of shooting into an occupied dwelling and one county of shooting into an occupied building. He has been booked into the Tuscaloosa County Jail on $2 million bond.

Wilkins was initially charged with one count of attempted murder as investigators worked to obtain that additional warrants.

2:10 p.m.: A man suspected in a mass shooting at a downtown bar early Tuesday morning is also suspected of setting fire to his former work place.

Nathan Wilkins is suspected of setting fire to Capstone Oil in Brookwood at 3 a.m.

A Facebook page for a Nathan Wilkins of Northport who claims to work at Capstone Oil includes photos of a man with tattoos on his arms, posing with an assault rifle, and standing in front of a Confederate flag and making an obscene gesture at the camera. The page has since been taken down.

Brookwood Police Chief Randy Kizziah said that someone pulled three trucks into the building at Capstone Oil Field Services on Alabama Highway 216 and set fire to them before setting fire to a gas well rig about a quarter mile away.

Assistant Chief Jimmy Sellers pulled a police report that was filed in March when suspect Nathan Wilkins, 44, was involved in a fight there. Wilkins hasn't worked for Capstone Oil since March.

Brookwood police looked at surveillance video from a camera at Brookwood Town Hall and saw a truck pull into the business across the street before the fires were started.

The truck matched the description of the truck in the police report filed after the fight in March.

Brookwood Police and Fire developed Wilkins as a suspect before they heard about the shooting much later, Kizziah said.

“We gave TPD the tag number and description of the vehicle he was driving,” he said. “We're going to interview him about the fires when the homicide investigators are done.”

Investigators with the Tuscaloosa County Metro Homicide Unit brought Wilkins back from Jasper this afternoon and were still interviewing him as of 2 p.m. He will likely face charges including attempted murder, shooting into an occupied dwelling and arson.

Court records do not indicate any previous violent crimes in Wilkins' past. He pleaded guilty to a 1988 burglary charge after he crawling through a hole in the roof of Brown's Garage and stealing a Mercedes Benz 450SL.

In 2002, he pleaded guilty to criminal surveillance, a misdemeanor defined as “intentionally engaging in surveillance while tresspassing in a private place.” No further details about that crime were included in the online court file.

1:00 p.m.: Authorities have confirmed the suspect in the Copper Top shooting as Nathan Wilkins. He was taken into custody in Jasper after turning himself in earlier today.

At a 1:00 p.m. press conference, Tuscaloosa Police Chief Steve Anderson said the shooter faces an array of criminal charges, including attempted murder. He said the name of the suspect would not be released until charges are filed.

Anderson said it was not clear whether the shooting, which is probably connected to another shooting earlier in the evening in Northport, was related to a dispute between rival biker gangs.

Wilkins' location was discovered after the owner of a FedEx in Jasper said that a man walked into his store Tuesday morning.

“He was walking across the parking lot and made straight eye contact,” Ken Barfield said. “It was obvious he wasn't shipping anything because he didn't have anything in his hand. That was a concern off the bat.”

“He walked in and said ‘Yeah that's me.' I guess when you do something that high-profile, you expect everyone to know who you are.”

Barfield said that the man identified himself as Nathan. Authorities confirmed the alleged shooter is named Nathan Wilkins.

“I said ‘I guess I need to call the police'. I didn't want to agitate him further. He was sweating profusely,” he said “I offered him a Powerade and told him not to walk toward the police when they showed up. I told him to put his hands in the air.”

Jasper Police arrived about eight minutes later, Barfield said.

“I don't know why he chose to walk into a FedEx,” he said.

11:20 a.m.: Investigators say that evidence could connect a shooting that happened in Northport with the mass shooting that happened at a downtown bar less than an hour later.

A Northport man was shot at his house in the 4100 block of Fourth Avenue East, off Watermelon Road, at 11:40 p.m. Monday.

“We're waiting for physical evidence to be examined to see if there's a link between the two,” said Sgt. Kip Hart, assistant commander of the

Tuscaloosa County Metro Homicide Unit.

No one had been arrested as of 11:30 a.m. Police do not feel that people are in further danger.

Northport Police were patrolling the neighborhood Tuesday while crime scene investigators from the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office collected evidence at the house.

The Northport victim, 30, was in serious condition Tuesday, but investigators were able to interview him at DCH Regional Medical Center. He was shot in the back and was in stable condition after surgery, Northporty Mayor Bobby Herndon said.

Fifty minutes later at 12:30 a.m., a gunman with a military-style assault rifle fired at least 11 shots into the Copper Top bar in Temerson Square, injuring 17 people. The man turned and walked back the way he came, Tuscaloosa Police Chief Steven Anderson said, down the hill on the east side of the building on 23rd Avenue.

Anderson said that at least one victim in the bar was the shooter's target.

“The individuals there were very blessed that they were not killed,” he said. Three of the victims are University of Alabama students.

UA notified the university community through the campus alert system, according a statement from interim president Judy Bonner.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to those who were injured in the shooting in downtown Tuscaloosa last night," Bonner said in the statement. "We have learned that three students suffered non life-threatening injuries. Two were treated and released from the hospital, and one is being held for observation."

Anderson described the shooter as a white man between 5 feet 7 and five feet nine inches tall with a stocky build. He encouraged anyone who can identify him or his location to call TPD at 205-349-2121 or CrimeStoppers at 205-752-STOP(7867).

8:30 a.m.: Five of 17 people injured during a mass shooting at the Copper Top, a downtown bar, early Tuesday morning remain hospitalized.

One was in critical condition, another was in serious condition and three were in fair condition, DCH Regional Medical Center spokesman Brad Fisher said at 8:30 a.m.

Twelve had been treated and released. All the victims are in their 20s and 30s, Fisher said.

Crime scene investigators still had the downtown block near 23rd Street and Fourth Avenue closed as they collected and photographed evidence Tuesday morning.

A press conference is scheduled for 10 a.m. this morning at the Tuscaloosa Police Department (Follow the press conference live on Twitter at @tuscaloosanews).

Video of the alleged shooter has been posted on TPD's Facebook page, showing a man walking along the east side of the Copper Top building carrying an assault rifle at his right side.

No deaths had been reported and the gunman had not been apprehended, according to a source close to the investigation. The source said the events leading up to the bloodshed may have started in Northport and continued into the area of Fourth Street and 23rd Avenue in downtown Tuscaloosa.

The gunman fired into the Copper Top bar, which sits on the corner of Fourth Street and 23rd Avenue. The damage appeared to be confined to Copper Top.

The source requested anonymity because the person was unauthorized to release the information.

Police could not comment on the size of the crowd at the bar, but Riley Dunn, a University of Alabama senior who was injured in the shooting, estimated that there were between 80 and 90 people.

“We were all just shooting pool and hanging out,” said Dunn, whose leg was bandaged from what he described as a shrapnel-like wound. “It was kind of loud from the music, but we heard the gun shot and no one really knew what to think. The first gunshot took place, then about 20 seconds later then that's when he really started firing them off. After that everyone really scattered.”

Justin McDaniel, who was at the scene with his wife Heather Dunn said there were trails of blood in the area around Copper Top. And while McDaniel wasn't injured, his shirt had large splotches of other people's blood, from running through the bar.

A large showing of the Tuscaloosa Police force descended upon the area soon after reports of the shooting were made. Downtown Tuscaloosa was placed on lockdown, but some officers began clearing out at approximately 2 a.m.

The Tuscaloosa Police alerted the public to the violence at about 1:30 a.m. via its official Twitter feed and asked the public for help on locating the suspect.

DCH remained on lockdown for two hours this morning at the recommendation of TPD, Fisher said. The hospital is no longer on lockdown.

No information was immediately available on the identity of the shooter, what the motive for the shooting may have been or whether anyone specific was targeted.